


The Experiment

by evilsupergirl



Category: GOT7
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Morbid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-17 19:41:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5883091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilsupergirl/pseuds/evilsupergirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jackson and Jaebum play a morbid game that gradually gets out of hand, but leads to peace and love in the Got7 dorm.</p>
<p>Yeah, that's basically how this story goes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Experiment

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: It has been a while since I wrote anything for fun (JaeHo/YunJae of DBSK were popular in my writing heyday) and this is my first got7 story. Any other writer feel strange writing “Bambam” the first time or have autocorrect keep wanting Jinyoung’s name to be “Mingling”? Anyway, any comments on their characterizations or spotted typos will be most helpful. I decided to add honorifics in dialogue because Im Jaebum cares about age. Enjoy^^

It was one of those rare moments when they had two hours before they were due for practice. A long, long night of practice, after all, they had a whole five week tour coming up. Sure, the ones who were actually home could leave now and utilize these two hours to perfect those songs they have yet to perform in front of a live audience or those ones they have never performed in Japanese (or they have, but it has been a year since then). This is the only time Jaebum does not feel even a smidgen of envy towards the rappers of their group. Poor dudes. Maybe they could spend this time practicing their numerous lyrics, doing anything more than this would be useless until Jinyoung and Bambam came back from their MC duties. Jaebum tries not to let the dread he feels build up at the thought of how unprepared this tour could end up looking. Seriously, when were they suppose to practice for this thing? When they hadn’t been preparing for or actually promoting a comeback, they were preparing or performing some special stage or doing an interview or photoshoot (which takes all day) or a fanmeet (which is how most evenings are spent), Jackson is always off to China or off filming something else, Jinyoung has his movie now…

Jackson entered the living room, took one look at his leader mindlessly flipping through channels and decided to sit beside him. Teasing Mark with another fanfic he found, where Mark was the one that got knocked up, could wait. That was 3 to 1 in his favor (man with only man parts) so far for stories in which fans really wanted one of them not to have a penis. Jackson switched the tab on his phone and, in doing so, made an ad pop up.

“How to get away with murder.” Jackson read out loud.

“What are you looking up?” Jackson held his phone up and pointed to the ad he had just read, which stated the phrase he just spoke in Korean and English. It also had a network logo and a time listed on the bottom. My, what wholesome programming we have these days.

“You think it really shows how to murder people and get away with it?” 

Jaebum shrugged and asked, “Do you think you have all of your Japanese parts down, even for the Korean songs?”

“Yes, Leader-nim.” Well, that answered for Jackson why Jaebum had looked angry and constipated at the same time when he had walked in. Tour anxiety. “Should I look up the show? Let’s look it up.” Jackson clicked on the ad, determined to pull Jaebum out of his funk. “Oooo, an official youtube video. Oh, she looks dead. So does he. That actor looks familiar. Oh, it’s a drama, a scripted drama. Look, another video. Skip ad. Look, look, I wonder if that guy is going to kill the other.” Jaebum finally looked over, or down rather, since Jackson held the phone closer to Jaebum’s face than his own. Here Jaebum saw the two men talking, neither of them had a weapon on them. He looked around the scene for sharp objects, but was drawn back to the actors when they started… “oh, well I guess they won’t kill each other… unless it’s a crime of passion, Ha Ha.” The two male actors continued to kiss passionately on the screen. 

Jaebum looked away, his face scrunched as he asked, “You sure you clicked the right video?”

“Yeah, it has the same title as the other one, and that actor was in the other clip too. Same show.”

“Guess shows will do anything to get ratings these days.” He lifted the remote again, wishing to replace the images he just saw with something else. Anything else.

“Hey, don’t be like that. It’s not like we’re any better.” Jaebum stopped pretending to care about what was on TV and put the remote down. Actually, he dropped it.

“What?” 

“I believe in our industry we call it “fan service” and “close contact” and-”

“It’s called skinship.” 

“And “couples” and “ships” and-”

“And that’s just you and Bambam or when we’re forced to play a game. It’s not like...” Jaebum gestured to the phone.

“Well no, our fans would die if we did that, but what “you and Bambam”, you do it too, Hyung.”

“You take it too far, you make it sexual and not just brotherly. You do it with Jinyoung too.”

“So do you. You do it with Jinyoung too!” A blur of pink and white suddenly moved towards them from the direction of the hallway.

Mark was moving fast with Choco in his arms. “I don’t want to know.” He said as he beelined for his and Jackson’s old room.

“No, Mark hyung, it’s not- see, even he believes it.” Jackson concluded. Jaebum let out a deep breath.

“What I believe is if you don’t shut up now I’m going to murder you and get away with it.” Jackson shook his head while hearing Jaebum’s verbal security blanket in action. Did he really think that he was still intimidating after all these, okay yes, he was still intimidating after all these years. But, Jackson is still Jackson.

“No, you won’t. Bambam would avenge me, he would call the police. Mark would kill you back.”

“Mark is my best friend.”

“Mark hyung is my best friend too.”

“He would help me bury you.”

“He would help me kill you!”

“It would take two of you to kill me?”

“No. But someone would have to fend off Youngjae and Jinyoung while I do it.”

“You’re going to kill me in front of them?”

“What do you think Yugyeom would be doing?” At the same time, both young men replied, “Crying in a corner.” The conversation pleasantly ended there. Jackson was relieved that Jaebum looked less constipated and Jaebum was happy to have won the debate. He’s pretty sure he won the debate. 

Even with how morbid that debate was, there was something about it that had sparked Jaebum’s interest. Jackson’s too. They didn’t discuss it with or in front of the others. It got to the point where Jaebum would find himself texting “what if x member killed x member” in the airport and smiling at Jackson’s answers. The focus wasn’t on how their friends and teammates would kill each other, but how the rest of the team would react. Who would be loyal to the murderer and who would be loyal to the victim? Their answers would change depending on who was getting along that day. Jackson was convinced that Mark could confess to the police and still get away with killing any of them.

The debate had also gotten to the point where they decided to share a hotel room once their, somewhat looks half-assed, tour began, much to the disappointment of Youngjae and Bambam. Jaebum told himself the room change was due to a want to strengthen the team’s bonds, but really, he just wanted to know what Jackson thought the others would do if he killed Jinyoung.

“Wouldn’t happen.” was Jackson’s reply as he inspected all of the drawers in their hotel room. All four of them. Once, in all the dozens of hotel rooms they have stayed in all over the world, Youngjae had once, one time, found an opened box of condoms. Since then, most of them acquired the habit of carefully checking their rooms. 

“Why not? And if you really need condoms, I’ll buy them for you.”

“Because you love him too much. And if I need some, I’ll just take some of Bambam’s.” Jaebum lifted an eyebrow at that, knowing Jackson would explain. He did. “He’s a bit optimistic about becoming an adult.”

“A bit?” Jaebum made a note to somehow tease Bambam about this later. “And play the game. We all love each other, so why can’t I kill Jinyoung?” Jackson finished his inspection and collapsed onto his bed.

“I already answered that.” Jaebum waited for clarification. Jackson rolled back and forth on his bed. Apparently, he had nothing to add. 

So Jaebum tried, “You’ve been reading too many of those fan stories again?” Jackson’s affinity for desiring his friends to be in romantic relationships was both sweet and disturbing. Jackson stopped rolling and smiled at the ceiling.

“You two are hopeless, you know that? Well, you are more than he is. And if you killed Jinyoung, I would kill you. Mark would call the cops, Yugyeom and Bambam would cry in a corner and Youngjae would help bury both your bodies.”

“You know, you do a lot of the avenge killings in most of these scenarios. You might want to get that checked out. Talk with someone.”

“Says the guy who doesn’t even get that he’s meh mer meh his best friend.”

“What?”

“Nothing. You know if we ever did this for real, like pretend for real, I would have to kill you because that would be so unbelievable that it would have to be believed. We could even fake fight a bit leading up to it.”

“We can’t fake fight, the others would ask what was wrong before then and I can’t lie to Jinyoung, he -”

“Your heart won’t let you.”

“Stop with that.”

“With what?”

“You know what, and as I was saying, he can see through me. Youngjae has gotten better at reading me too. They’ll know I’m acting.”

“Which is why you have to be the dead one. Fine, no fight. But how do we make you look dead? Can you fake that? What if Jinyoung tries CPR?”

“I can’t be in the room then. You can just say I’m dead.”

“Then how is Mark going to help bury your body?”

“Why do you think Mark would help you-” There was a knock on their door. They immediately went silent. Had they been too loud? They couldn’t explain why they didn’t want the others to know about their game, if anything, it would be interesting to hear their thoughts too, but it had just become this unwritten rule. Jackson went to the door. And just like that, all thoughts of how to get away with fake murder was pushed aside as Bambam bounded into the room. He really really really needed Jackson to see this new App he just downloaded that could add graphics and sound effects to self-recorded videos. Jaebum spent the rest of the evening listening to music and trying to block out the sound of Darth Bambam and Wang Baca interviewing each other… in Japanese.

It was all for the best because Jaebum didn’t figure out how he could be “dead” until a few days later when he was rummaging around one of their many accessory bags that littered the floor of the quick changing room located behind the stage and which he shared with Jackson, Yugyeom and Jinyoung. There was this bracelet he had worn during one of their performances on the first day of touring in this city. So, if the snazzy piece were to be found anywhere.. dammit, where did it go? And where was Jackson? He wanted to tell him about his body bag idea before he forgot it. He tossed the real bag he had aside and grabbed another one. These things should really be labeled.

Jinyoung entered the room. He really didn’t want to wear those leather pants he wore last night, again, so he was hoping to sneak the stiff, ball crushers into the other quick changing room. Maybe Bambam would wear them. Well, he would have to, since Jinyoung also planned to steal Bambam’s pants. His cunning caper met a blockade upon seeing his team leader crouched in the corner of the room. He internally debated how much Jaebum would care about clothes swapping. He’s been a bit off lately. Inconsistently out of focus in interviews. Exceedingly giddy while the rest of them were fraying at the edges due to utter schedule overload… though, Jinyoung could be projecting on that one. Still, Jaebum was acting different enough to get the fansites speculating that he was dating, so this wasn’t just in Jinyoung’s head. 

Well, no time like the present. “Hyung, can I talk to you?”

Jaebum jumped and whipped his head around. “Jesus, Jinyoung, you scared me.”

“Jesus is in here too?”

“He’s everywhere, and probably wearing the bracelet I want.” Jaebum looked back towards the bag between his hands. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Just, ummm… you…”

“What about me?” 

Jaebum had to turn back around before Jinyoung replied, “We’re close, right?”

“Close enough to not talk around each other.” Jaebum raised his eyes and lowered his head, hoping to get the point across. Jinyoung huffed, then smirked. 

But the sly smile fell as he asked, “Are you seeing someone? Do you have a girlfriend?”

“What?” What? Jaebum knew it had been awhile since they last had a serious, personal discussion, but… What? “What makes you say that?” And when would he have the time?

“Your behavior.” Jinyoung pointed his whole hand at him and took a small step forward during that statement. However, he looked down and away as he added, “the internet.” Which made Jaebum chuckle. So they weren't having a real “serious” serious conversation.

“The internet also thinks that Yugyeom is an innocent adolescent,” the smirk was back. “And we’re all gay for each other.” And the smirk fell again. Understandable. It tended to get annoying when people were constantly suggesting that you and your friends should romantically be together. Then Jinyoung bit his lip. Nervous. Hiding something. “Wha-”

“What if something like that were true… like, if you found out Mark hyung was gay or something?”

“He’s not.”

Jinyoung began more urgently, “I know, but what if-”

“Don’t let the internet bother you, Jinyoung-ie. It’s a disturbing place.” Jinyoung’s shoulders sagged and he shook his head slightly. Jinyoung didn't need to get worked up about such things. Then again, it's surprising that he seems bothered at all, considering...

“So it would seem. Anyway…. so, you’re really not seeing anyone? You’ve been so happy lately-”

“Am I not allowed to be happy?”

“And having secret conversations with Jackson, and if anyone knows about dating girls, it’s him.” Okay, so their covert morbid death debates weren’t as covert as he thought they were. Duly noted.

“Tell you what, when I do get a girlfriend, you’ll be the first to know, deal?” Jinyoung finally fully smiled and turned towards the clothes rack. Jaebum continued to watch him.

“Deal.” he agreed.

“Deals go both ways, you know. If you get a girl, you have to tell me.”

“You know I’m not interested in girls… for now.” Jaebum’s eyes narrowed. And there he goes. There were times, like now, when Jinyoung would do or say something that would make it seem as if.. like just now, with the pause after stating a non interest in girls. Sometimes he makes weird statements, like loving their guy fans or how boy love comics look cute or how handsome he thinks, well… most guys…. are… but even off camera he rarely compliments women, and then there’s the whole “mom” thing...

Jaebum and Mark called it “Jinyoung’s curiosity”. The talks started shortly after their group was formed, mostly, when there were five of them, and the outlook of their music careers was still on the rocks, dangling. Mark had bluntly asked him if Jinyoung was gay. Jaebum was ready to wax poetry about the FAMILY like culture that can be found here in South Korea, which can be easily misunderstood by foreigners. To which Mark quickly reminded him that he had been living in South Korea for a couple of years now; he knew all that; he just wanted to know about Jinyoung. Which made Jaebum rethink Jinyoung. Since then, they made it a habit to discuss and analyze anything Jinyoung did that would shed light on the young man’s preferences (since flat out asking if he preferred men just got Jinyoung griping about the “mere suggestion” of it for weeks on end. And to which Mark understood it to mean Jinyoung “was protesting too much to not be gay”). To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t the notion of Jinyoung being gay that bothered Jaebum as the months and months went on with no clear answer in sight; but the fact that if Jinyoung was, and that’s a strong if…. most likely is, gay…. why, the hell, couldn’t he just tell them. Tell him. After all they’ve been through… Jinyoung knew about all the women Jaebum's ever been interested it. It’s only fair that they both share this much. Right?

“Well… even if it’s just a crush, you know… completely one sided… people can’t help these things, those feelings… you can share that stuff too.” Jinyoung was intensly looking through twelve articles of clothing and nodding along as Jaebum struggled to string a sentence together. He looked at Jaebum sideways when he finished.

“Do you have something to share?” Jaebum huffed. Jinyoung’s curiosity once again remains ambiguous. Ever feel like you’re talking around someone instead of with them? It’s a familiar sensation with Jinyoung.

“Nope. But, if you see a gold and leather bracelet over there, toss it over.”

“Sure… have you checked this bag?” 

“Which bag?” Jaebum watched as Jinyoung bent down and came back up with a bag from the foot of the clothes rack. He opened it up and eyed through it.

With a knowing smile, he said, “This bag, with all the bracelets in it.” He then carried it over to the ever grateful Jaebum.

“What would I do without you?”

“Be utterly useless and have a naked wrist.”Jaebum loudly laughed as he dug around the newly aquired bag. Their almost serious discussion ended just like that.

While all seven of them were on their way back to the hotel after the concert, Jaebum made sure to text all of his ideas to Jackson about their “how Jackson gets away with killing Jaebum” experiment. Jackson replied that it all sounded awesome. And they were wasting precious, expensive texts since they were in the same van, but that he also understood why, and that, before the experiment, they needed to hide all the sharp objects in the house in case Jinyoung wanted to up the body count. For real. Speaking of Jinyoung...

Mark knew the look that Jaebum was giving him and he understood it well. He wanted to talk. He wanted to talk about Jinyoung. It happens sometimes. This time, Mark thinks Jaebum may be overreacting. All that had happened before he got the look was Bambam bragging about how hott he thought he looked in Jinyoung’s leather pants. No one knew how that wardrobe mix-up happened. Anyway, then Jinyoung had agreed that Bambam had looked “sexy” in them. It was after that comment when Jaebum had given him the look. See, he thought that they had decided about a year ago that Jinyoung’s frequent comments about the attractiveness of men is most likely due to his upbringing (by several women) and not a gay thing. Though, it shouldn't be completely dismissed either. So, as stated previously, Jaebum, in Mark’s opinion, was overreacting.

He said as much when Jaebum had followed him to his hotel room later that evening (Yugyeom, his roommate, was in Youngjae and Bambam’s room. They were watching a movie.). 

Jaebum responded with an “I know, but we also had a strange conversation today.”

“Oh?” They each sat on the side of a bed, facing each other. Mark folded his hands across his lap as he looked across at Jaebum and listened. Mark isn’t sure how long Jaebum could possibly go on denying his feelings for Jinyoung (the man did initiate 98% of their special Jinyoung talks), but until that day, these moments would remain as some of the most amusing interactions he has with Jaebum (that and the time he dared him to go flirt with a black girl Mark had kept seeing him glance at during one of their LA trips. He is pretty sure that his age and having the sole knowledge of one of Im Jaebum’s most embarrassing moments is why he is rarely ever on the receiving end of Jaebum’s violent man-tantrums).

Jaebum explained the earlier conversation he had with Jinyoung to the best of his ability, “And it’s just one of those weird statements, you know.” He finished.

“And you're sure he said he's not interested in “girls”, and not “dating”?”

“He said girls. It’s not a work ethic thing.”

“Maybe it's time to confront him again.”

“He’ll just deny it again.”

“I could kiss him.”

“He doesn’t do anything when you kiss him. Nothing weird.”

“Off camera. I could do it off camera.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Just. No.”

Mark ventured, “You could kiss -”

“It’s not right. What if he did feel that way about you or me, and let's be honest, it would be you, it would just hurt him to find out we did it just to get a confession. It's not right… what?” Mark looked a little too happy with what he was saying, which is weird since Jaebum is turning down his idea.

“Nothing. You just care so much about him.”

“Don't you?” the only answer Jaebum got was another smile. In the end, they decided not to take any immediate action. February, and therefore Valentine's Day, was over a month away, so when they were all asked about ideal types and all that stuff, as they tend to be, the plan was to ask Jinyoung how honest his answers were on and off camera. The conversation then moved to the concert they had just finished; they shared their personal evaluations of a few performances and more than a few notable fans.

Between the interviews, photoshoots and trips back home for more schedules, the five weeks of touring around Japan passed by quickly (as much of their lives tended to, with the exception of late night practices. Youngjae could swear that time literally stops and they get stuck in some kind of time loop when they practice any time after 12PM (and it just as magically goes faster if they are being recorded). Youngjae also knew he was currently running out of time. 

He had promised Yugyeom and Bambam that he would talk to Jaebum before touring ended; which will officially happen after they sleep tonight and board a plane tomorrow. Maybe they could talk on the plane. Nah, that could potentially be really awkward. It was best to get it over with. Look, there he is, down the hall… with everyone else… except Mark and Jinyoung... maybe he should see what Mark is up to first, NO, Youngjae can do this. Youngjae will do this!

Move your feet, Youngjae.

Youngjae creeped past Yugyeom, Bambam and Jackson, who, like they all had been, were still hyped up from the concert. The last ones tend to stay in their systems longer than any of the others. Jaebum seemed to have calmed down; less than twenty minutes ago, he had been cartwheeling all over the place. Now, he was casually leaning up against his hotel room door and staring down at his phone. He was still doing this when Youngjae reached him. He looked up from his phone, they locked eyes, he smiled to Youngjae, then he looked back down at his phone. Yup, they can talk on the plane. 

But Youngjae didn’t move. It was stupid really. He wasn’t even sure how he was going to say what he wanted to say or what it was he really wanted to say, for that matter. And he had been given five weeks to figure it out. Longer than that, if he really thought about it. It’s just been that long since Yugyeom’s suggestion that he tell Jaebum that he… well?

They used to be close. Physically (no gutter brains, not like that), mentally… Youngjae had felt he had gained a real best friend in the group (despite Jaebum’s weird age hang-ups). However, for the past few months… things had been different; they had been different, less close. Now Bambam had assured him that Youngjae was just experiencing a bit of what he called a “friend” phase (which almost made Youngjae cry when he first heard it). It is hard to give equal amounts of quality time to more than one best friend (when you have more than one), it just was. Sometimes you’ll be closer with one, and other times… another. Bambam gave the example that although Yugyeom is his boy for life, sometimes he spends more time with Jackson. Sometimes Jackson spends more time with Mark (which he did a lot before they debuted) or Jinyoung (which is more recent). Both boys told him to just give it time and Jaebum would naturally come back around to him. After Youngjae got kicked out of his own bedroom, they then suggested he talk to Jaebum about his feelings. Though, getting kicked out probably had more to do with Choco pooping by Jaebum’s head every other morning than anything to do with their relationship… such as it was. 

Well, here goes nothing.

“Jaebum hyung?”

“Hmmm?”

“Can I talk to you?”

“You are talking to me.” Well, at least he was in a cheeky mood. That was a good sign.

“In private.” Jaebum stopped glancing up from his phone only when he spoke and he gave Youngjae his full attention. Jaebum quickly ran through tonight's performances through his mind, but he couldn’t find anything Youngjae could be concerned about. His stage presence and stamina have improved greatly these past few weeks. And his voice was never a concern. Must be member related.

“Of course.” So far, so good, now Youngjae just needed to figure out how to word his feelings without sounding so… pathetic… really, it’s not like he didn’t have other friends, best friends. Even in the team, he has been getting closer to Mark and Bambam during these last few months. 

Before Jaebum could open his room door, the door across from them opened and out stormed Jinyoung in sweats and a pout. 

“HYUNG!” even his ears were red with anger.

“Sorry, Jinyoung, just for a little while.” came a muffled voice from inside the room Jinyoung had been in before it’s door slammed shut. 

“HYUNG! Why now! I’m tired!”

“What’s going on?” Jaebum asked.

“I’m being kicked out of my room because-” Jinyoung stopped his pacing as he spoke. “Guys! Put Bambam down, he’s going to get hurt! Put him down.”

“You hear that, guys, I think Jinyoung said he wants to be carried.” Jackson said as he set Bambam down and began advancing towards Jinyoung with the two youngest in tow. At some point, Jaebum had moved from behind Youngjae and went to stand next to where Jinyoung had stopped. Jinyoung was now in motion again. With his hands up he started stepping back slowly.

“No, I didn’t.”

“I heard it.” Yugyeom lied.

“No, you didn’t.” Jinyoung stated from halfway behind Jaebum with a hand on his arm. Youngjae lost his patience. Curiosity equals dead cat blah blah blah.

“Why did you get kicked out?” Jinyoung refocused on Youngjae. The other three had stopped their pursuit as well. It wasn’t like they would really go past Jaebum to get to Jinyoung. It wasn’t worth the neck pain.

“Because Seunghoon hyung wants to have facetime sex with his girlfriend back home and thinks now is a superb time to do it!”

“Ohhhhhhhh.” Was the collective response.

“Get it, Hyung!” Jackson added.

“I didn’t know he was so adventurous.” Bambam mused.

“But why now!” Jinyoung continued, clearly not as amused by their manager’s love life as the others were. “Why couldn’t he do it while we were performing or any other time? Why does he have to choose when I want to go to bed. It’s my room too! Where is the consideration here? We all worked very hard tonight, myself included-”

“Well, if you wanted to do a little facetiming of your own, you can use our room, Bambam and I can go elsewhere.” Jackson said with a shit-eating grin. Room assignments had gone back to normal for these past few shows, so Youngjae was back with Jaebum. Something that only slightly appeased his lonely heart. Well, that line was a bit melodramatic. Still.

“That’s not what I meant! I said I want to sleep!”

“Everyone stop yelling in the hallway and go to bed!” Came a muffled yell from what used to be Jinyoung and the manager's room. 

“Hyung, where am I supposed to sleep!” Jinyoung yelled back.

“Only Jinyoung is yelling!” Jackson added.

“You can sleep with me.” Came Mark’s voice from behind the two youngest and Jackson. 

“Yeah, Hyung-ie, you can sleep in our room.” Yugyeom agreed. Slowly, people naturally started to shift into roommate formation, as Yugyeom moved back and closer to Mark, and Bambam stood next to Jackson. Jaebum hadn’t moved at all, except he was now holding Jinyoung’s hand. A rare, off camera move for those two.

“Uhhh… that’s a nice offer, really appreciate it, guys, but I’ll just wait it out.” Jinyoung’s anger was completely deflated from his voice.

“No, sleep over, it’ll be fun.” Yugyeom insisted. Youngjae noticed Jinyoung’s held hand tighten. 

“No, I… it’s not a good idea. I have bad sleeping habits. You know that. I like to sleep alone.”

“So, we all do, Yugyeom drools.” Bambam offered. Jinyoung ignored this and looked to Jaebum instead. Who knows what was being “spoken” now.

“You can sleep in my room.” Jaebum quietly offered. Which was a clear communication error judging by Jinyoung’s deepened pout. 

“Hyung, I have bad-”

“I’ll sleep with Youngjae, it’s not like that’s new for us.” Right, and thanks for asking Youngjae what he thought about sharing his bed. “And you can have my bed.” Youngjae couldn’t help trying to read Jinyoung’s reaction to this. Not that Youngjae is the best judge of character, (judging by that time the school bully tried to kiss him. Talk about mixed signals) however, if he were to bet any of them being more interested in pecs than boobs, it would Park Jinyoung. Which would explain why he never wanted to sleep with them. And the pecs he was interested in… well, that was kind of obvious, wasn’t it?

When Youngjae checked back into his surroundings, people had started moving again. Mark was retreating back down the hall and Bambam had just asked him,Youngjae (narratives featuring all guys is hard), if he wanted to join him for a movie in his room. 

“He will in a minute.” Jaebum responded for him. Why in a min- oh yeah, he had said that thing earlier. And now he was getting a “meaningful” look from his team leader. 

“It’s all right, Jaebum hyung, we can talk later.”

“You sure?” Yup, that was Jaebum’s real “concerned” face. 

“Yaaas, man, I’m good.” He responded in English.

“Okay then. See you later.”Jaebum chuckled back.

Again in English, “Yeah man, see you later.” One of these days, Jaebum is going to figure out that Youngjae enjoys speaking English to Jaebum specifically because when he does, he gets to drop any formalities in his speech (and that dork, Jaebum, actually enjoys it). It will not be a fun day when that day comes. 

What was fun was the idea of watching a movie with Bambam. He hadn’t been lying to Jaebum. He really did feel better. Watching Jaebum smiling over at Jinyoung while the other continued to complain about their inconsiderate manager solidified his feeling that things would be just fine between him and Jaebum. Heck, JJ Project have been friends for at least twice as many years and surely they have had their own “distant” periods. And look at them now. So, Youngjae could wait until the Jaebum naturally “came back around” to him. For now, he was going to shift his focus and enjoy his own Bambam (and Mark) phase. Also, he wanted to learn Bambam’s thoughts on his “Jinyoung hyung may want to do the horizontal tango with our leader” theory. Well, maybe Mark is a better candidate for that theory.

Jaebum always theorized that Jinyoung’s “I have bad sleeping habits” line was just his nice way of saying “I would rather sleep alone than share a room with you”. But now that he has skirted the question twice, he couldn’t help but get more curious. Especially after the non response he got after stating he would just “find out for himself anyway”. 

At least, there was no response until Jinyoung muttered out, “I hope not.” Damn, was his interest peaked. He knows for a fact that he and Jinyoung have fallen asleep in the same room before (cars, planes, back stage waiting rooms, etc.) and he has never seen, when Jinyoung fell asleep first or woke up last, any bad sleeping habits. 

“Come on, how bad can it be?” Just admit you’re lying. Jinyoung continued to stare down at Jaebum's phone. His own was trapped in the adult room across the hall. Jinyoung was setting the alarm at Jaebum's request. Any morning that Jaebum is not in charge of having to wake people up is a good one. Plus, Jinyoung seemed to enjoy going through all the phone’s alarm options. Or he was just trying to evade his questioning.

“Can we stop talking about this, please?” Or both. People can have more than one motivation. 

“Sure. Ummm… you want to watch a movie or something?” Jaebum was pretty sure Youngjae’s iPad was still unpacked somewhere in this room. 

“I honestly would rather go to sleep, but you can-”

“Nah, I think I’d fall asleep five minutes into it anyway.” It was true. In the last half hour, he had gone from giving Mark a piggyback ride to bone deep exhaustion. It felt good. 

“We’ve gotten so old.” Jinyoung pulled the comforter over himself. Jaebum took his shirt and pants off.

“We’re not old, they’re infants.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that we’re old.”

“If that means sleeping now, then,” Jaebum got under the covers of his own bed and dragged his voice into what the others had lovingly dubbed his grandpa voice. “I like being old. Goodnight, geezer Jinyoung.” He heard distinct, airy chuckling from the other bed. Nailed it.

“Sweet dreams, Jaebum hyung.” Jaebum smiled and then kicked the comforter back down since this room was a bit on the too warm side of acceptable room temperatures. 

Jaebum did not wake up smiling. He woke up to an alarm in his ear and his bottom half around Youngjae’s waist. Huh. He hasn’t woken up like this in a while. He blindly reached behind him for his phone, which was currently playing Katrina and the Waves’s Walking on Sunshine. Typical Jinyoung. Did Jaebum even have that song on his phone? Did Jinyoung buy it last night? Jaebum stretched his head over Youngjae to see the other bed. Not only was the bed empty, but it was made. Jaebum was pretty sure, about 99% sure, he hadn't dreamed about the last moments of last night. So where had - OH come on!

“How bad can a habit be, Park Jinyoung!” However, he couldn’t help grinning even as he yelled. That kid was too much sometimes. His other younger brother didn’t even stir beside him. Though the term “younger brother” doesn’t really fit Jinyoung… never did… Jaebum looked at the time on his phone and his more alert self could now clearly see that Jinyoung had also taken the time to set a picture of a random naked lady as his lock screen. Oh - he wanted to play that game, did he? Did he not realize that Jaebum knew the passcode to his phone too? And if his affinity for the same three passwords hasn’t changed since their JJ Project days, then Jinyoung could look forward to a fuzzy pair of handcuffs, purchased by Jinyoung, arriving at their house by the time they got back home (or later depending on shipping prices).

Jaebum realized he may be perpetuating the “Jaebum has a girlfriend” rumor as he spent most of his trip through the airport on his phone again, but he just didn’t care. He spent most of the time undoing what Jinyoung did to it (including saving his contact as “my favorite JYP”. It wasn't worth the member drama to keep it), and checking what else he may have changed. The only time he stopped was when he caught up with “his favorite JYP”.

“Sleep well?” He asked him.

“Hmm.” Jaebum took a better look at his masked team member. 

“No, seriously, did you?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll sleep on the plane.”

“I guess it would have been better if you had just waited for Seunghoon hyung to finish. How long could he last?”

“I don’t want to know.”

“I don’t know why I asked.”

“To the right, I think a fan is going to try to hand you something.”

“It could be for you.” Jaebum pointed out as he looked over. And knew immediately that he was wrong because the fan in question held a “Jaebum” sign in her other hand. She was coming at them diagonally. Fans have been doing that a lot lately, approaching at an angle.

Once on the plane, Jaebum spent most of his time whispering to Jackson as they went over the final details of the “kill Jaebum” experiment. Things were progressing nicely. Actually, like before, all they had done was talk about it, but now, Jaebum was sure… pretty sure… they would actually go through with it. They had set a date, some rough parameters so things wouldn’t get out of hand, and Jaebum made a list of everything they would need to buy and borrow. They even conceded that they would have to get their managers involved, even if the involvement was on an intel only basis. It was all a nice mental break from all the song and dance and Japanese that had been filling his head and body for the past month. 

And yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this past tour, or maybe before then, had changed something. Maybe a change within the group or one within himself. He wasn’t sure. Jinyoung’s line about him seeming happier these days came back to him. It wasn’t the first time he’s heard it. Sort of. He had to tell his mom that he was not, repeat not, on drugs after she had viewed one of their dance practice videos. So that was it, either drugs or a girlfriend? Was it so hard to believe he was just happy? There was no reason. Was there? His mom had called during the summer, towards the end of their Just Right promotions. Nothing was personally going on then that he could recall.

Time jump like woah. He knew what wasn’t causing him any happiness: his current situation.This was it. The Day. The Experiment Day. The “let's kill Jaebum” day. The police had been called beforehand, so nothing dramatic would occur if one of the members called them. Choco was shut in Jaebum’s room. The one camera they managed to borrow came with a live feed function that Jaebum was now using to view the living room from his laptop as he sat in the back stairwell. The camera in the living room was hidden. The watered down kimchi paste was spattered across the bathroom floor and it soaked the towels and week old rotten hamburger meat (don’t ask how they achieved that without getting caught) and it was all shoved into a now vile smelling trash bag that currently sat in the middle of the bathroom floor. That room was not going to be fun to clean up later.   
The other members would be picked up from their schedules, then made to do some impromptu grocery shopping with the managers, who would later drop them off /ditch them at the house. The only reason none of the members would be suspicious of such actions was because this tended to actually happen at least once a month. The managers held a strong belief that the less they knew about what went on in the dorm, the better it was for all those involved. 

Now that he and Jackson were moments away (five minutes according to the manager’s last text) from getting this experiment started. So naturally… he started having doubts. Had they taken this game too far? Maybe… But he also still really wanted to know… who would be loyal to Jackson and who would be loyal to him. What would they do? And this may be team fever talking, spending too much time with the same people everyday, but he also wouldn’t mind seeing them cry over the thought of losing him, as selfish as that sounds. Then again, there was also a huge chance that none of them could believe Jackson’s story and all this hard work was for nothing. 

Well, it was too late for anymore late minute mental debates now. The five minutes were up. He knew his position on the staircase was risky (what if Bambam ran out) but he needed to be out of the dorm and the camera’s reception only let him go so far. Now, he could see Jackson on his monitor, he was in the living room taking deep breaths. He had been making himself cry for the past five minutes. Good or bad, this was going to be epic. 

Jaebum watched as Yugyeom and Bambam suddenly and soundlessly entered the living room. Even if it had been a high resolution video, Jaebum was no good at reading lips, so he had no idea what words the two youngest members of their team were hearing as they looked at Jackson. 

Yugyeom had no idea what Jackson was trying to tell them through his ugly sobbing, but he wished the others would get in here. He had never seen Jackson this upset before, and frankly, it scared him. Bambam already had his arm around Jackson’s shoulders and he was telling him to take deep breaths. Yugyeom looked around the room. He listened. 

“Where’s Jaebum hyung?” Minyoung hyung had said that Jackson and Jaebum would already be here at the dorm. Something wasn’t right? Did they fight? Did something happen with Jackson’s parents? Jaebum has their number, so he asked again, “Jackson hyung, where’s Jaebum hyung?” He knew Jackson heard him this time because Jackson let out a wrecked sob and looked straight at him. Something seriously fucked up was going on here. It did have to do with Jaebum, something more than a fight...Mark and Jinyoung finally entered the room with Youngjae close behind. They all had grocery bags in their hands. Good, they could sort this out. 

“Thanks for being so helpful you- what happened?” Jinyoung cut himself off and asked. 

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Yugyeom explained. Jinyoung dropped his bags on the floor and Mark followed suit. Youngjae brought his into the kitchen area. Yugyeom continued, “I think something happened between him and Jaebum hyung.” Jinyoung moved close to Jackson, who Bambam was still latched onto. 

Youngjae reentered the room saying, “What’s that awful smell?” That made Yugyeom forget Jackson for a moment. Oh shit, what was that smell? Was it coming from inside? What the fuck could make that smell?

“It’s Jaebum hyung.” Jackson’s broken voice cracked out. What the fuck did that fucking mean?

“What are you saying? I don’t understand.” Jinyoung said slowly. Mark went across the room and down the hall. 

Seconds later, he said, “Oh shit!” which got Yugyeom to enter the hallway as well. Mark was standing in front of their bathroom door and it looked open. As Yugyeom continued to approach, Mark held up his hand. “Don’t. You don’t need to see this.” Which only made Yugyeom stop where he was and crane his neck out. He could see a few red splotches of… was that blood… did Jackson beat up Jaebum? Was he in there? He could also see a thin outline of a black bag. The smell was definitely coming from the bathroom. 

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s Jaebum hyung.” Jackson repeated behind him. But what was he trying to say? He could mean the smell… that Jaebum… killed someone? That was what the smell was. There was a body in there. Wait, where the fuck was Choco?

Jinyoung was also in the hallway, and he asked, “What do you mean it’s Jaebum hyung? What happened?” 

“I don’t know… we fought… he way he fell… I… he hit… I don’t… I panicked.. OKAY, I panicked!”

“FUCK, JACKSON, what the fuck did you do!” hollered Mark in English. 

“I don’t know!”

“What does that fucking mean, huh? What is…” Mark moved towards the bathroom.

“Don’t go in!”

“Or what you’re going to kill me too!” 

“No, just-”

“What? You want to leave him in there?” Yugyeom really wished they would switch back to Korean because it really sounded like they were implying that Jackson had murdered Jaebum. And that made no fucking sense.

“NO, just… don’t open the bag or anything?”

“Why the fuck would I want to open the-”

Because Jinyoung’s frazzled brain was only comprehending some of the English, he screamed, “NO one is opening the bag!”

“Jinyoung.” Mark said softly, “we won’t-”

“Stop, just… I… I’m sorry, I can’t…” with that Jinyoung pushed both men back as he ran past the bathroom and entered Yugyeom’s room, where his room is also located. Mark entered the bathroom. Yugyeom didn’t know he had been stepping out of the hallway until the back of his legs hit the couch. Which was lucky because he was beginning to feel light headed. None of this made fucking sense...how… his eyes searched for clues. He found Youngjae to his right, still closer to the kitchen, he was bent on the floor with a puddle in front of him. Looks like he vomited. That won’t explain how this could be real. To his right, Bambam was also on the floor, but his was crying. Their eyes met. Now Yugyeom felt nauseous.

“We can’t carry him out like this, we have to roll him up in a blanket or something.” Mark was saying from the hall.

“We’re not the mafia, Mark, no will be suspicious of our trash, I’m not opening-”

“Don’t you call him that!” Youngjae yelled from the floor. Mark entered the living room with Jackson close behind, when he looked over at Youngjae, the young man crawled quickly across the floor to the other side of the room. Yugyeom also didn’t want Jackson to get any closer. 

“I.. Bambam...I-”

“Don’t talk to him.” Was all Yugyeom could think to say. They needed some adults in here. Where had all the adults gone?

Mark spoke again, “Look, we can’t leave… Jaebum like that, he… shit, this is so fucked up..” He ran his hand over his face, his resolve faded. Shit, this was actually happening, wasn’t it, Jaebum hyung…

“Jaebum hyung isn’t going anywhere.” Youngjae stated from across the room as he slowly stood up. “It’s too late.” He glared at Jackson. “I already called the police. They should be here soon.”

“You did?” For some reason Jackson sounded… relieved. Then he did the wip quickly two times and said, “Good job, Youngjae.”

From Jaebum’s horrible vantage point, things were not going well. They had figured that the others would go towards the bathroom, but would otherwise steer clear of it, given what they were suppose to think was in it. So far, he had seen everyone briefly, and then it was mainly just Bambam crouched on the floor. Then Yugyeom sat down on the couch. Seriously, he was dead and his friends were just sitting around! He had heard yelling earlier, but he could only clearly make out Jackson’s voice. How was he suppose to know when Jackson gave the experiment over signal, if he never left the hall? He knew where the camera was.

As if he had been heard, Jackson and Mark came back on screen and Youngjae finally appear as he crawled across the room. Did Jackson not get around to telling them he was dead yet? No, there was yelling before. Wait, Youngjae was standing up now. And there is the signal. YES, he knew Youngjae would call the police. 

He was grinning as he silently entered the dorm. He stopped grinning as the full volume of the house reached his ears.

“He’s gone insane.” Mark was saying. that was followed by the sound of loud crying, multiple crying sounds.

“I’m not insane.. look..if I had killed Bambam, what would you have done?”

“Stay away from Bambam!”

“No.-”

Jaebeom looked down the hallway, saw no one, dodge a weird puddle by his feet, the bag must have leaked or something and then entered the living room. It really did smell bad in here. “What he means, “ He began as he entered. “Is, hypothetically, what would you do if Jackson killed Bambam?” 

“Jaebum hyung!” Bambam yelled at he charged at Jaebum. He caught him before they both fell over. He saw Yugyeom getting up too. He seemed split between being upset and being angry. A punch to the arm told him which one he was leaning more towards. But he hugged him as well.

“What the actual fuck?” Came from Mark.

“Hey, this was Hyung’s idea too for those of you who are clearly mad at me but are hugging him.” Jackson complained.

That made Yugyeom step out of the side hug and ask,”But, why? Why did you do this?” Jaebum reached for all of the reasons he had stated before the start of this, but they all fell too short.

“I’m sorry.” He began, it was a phrase he was probably going to say a lot tonight. “It was like, what he was saying, we wanted to know what you all would do if you thought one of us killed the other?”

“Yeah, like who would try and attack me or call the cops on Jaebum’s behalf and who would care more about me and help me bury the body.”

“And you couldn’t just ask us, why?” Was Yugyeom’s question, his voice had lost it’s edge though.

“This way seemed more fun?” Jackson wasn’t too sure with his own reasoning. Jaebum was wishing he could take the night back as well. 

“Well not fun, but… like, Bambam, what would you do is Yugyeom killed Mark?” Bambam finally let him go as he rubbed at his face.

“I don’t know.” was his only reply.

“Okay… Yugyeom, what would you do if Mark killed Bambam?”

“I don’t know… be fucking pissed with him.” he replied quietly.

“Then what? Call the cops? Get Bambam arrested?”

“Bambam’s actions would get Bambam arrested.”

Jackson cut in, “Well if he’s like Mark, he’ll be pulling out blankets to help hull the body away.” Jaebum’s gaze shifted to Mark who was sitting up against the wall, drained. One look at his watery eyes and trembling face made any bitterness that had built up in that moment quickly fade. 

Jaebum felt the need to tell him.”It’s okay.” But he wasn’t sure if he got the message across since Mark didn’t respond. 

“No, the police, the answer is always if someone murders someone, you call the police.” Youngjae stood with clenched fists as he said this.

Jackson asked, “Even if Jaebum hyung kills me?”

“Yes, even if Jaebum hyung kills you.”

“See Youngjae has great loyalty for whichever friend gets killed.” Jackson concluded.

“Or the justice system.” Jaebum pointed out.

“I say we kill both Jaebum and Jackson right now.” Mark finally spoke again from the floor.

“I second that.” Yugyeom added. But no one moved Oh, good, they were coming around. Things would be okay.

“Guys, but I really called the police.” Now that the mood was shifting, even Youngae had wandered closer to Jaebum. Jackson tried to get closer to Bambam, but he wasn’t having it yet. The two youngest had moved to the couch, though Yugyeom was still close enough to grab his hand, which Jaebum squeezed back. He really needed to get the heat off of Jackson, he was just as guilty in this.

Jaebum explained, “it’s fine, we already called them beforehand, they knew this was happening.”

“But why did this have to happen?” Youngjae countered. Again, Jaebum had no good answer for him. And he would just get a room of glares if he said that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

“Wait, where’s Choco?” Mark asked as he got up from the floor.

“In my room.” Yes, finally an answer Jaebum was pleased to give.

“Yeah, we didn’t want her eating the kimchi paste in the bathroom, that would have been too disturbing.” Jackson further explained.

“That’s what that was?” Mark asked as he passed Jaebum, though not without putting his hand on his shoulder and giving it a tight squeeze. As he entered the hallway, he squeaked, “Jinyoung, you scared me, are you okay?” Jaebum let go of Yugyeom’s hand and entered the hallway. Mark blocked half of Jinyoung but he still shared a look with the only visible eye. Jinyoung broke contact by quickly turning around and marching back into his room. Jaebum was quick to follow. Jackson would have to continue appeasing the others on his own.

He heard a bang and when he looked into Jinyoung’s room, the man was holding his fist. A glance to the right, and Jaebum saw a crack on one of the window panes that made up Jinyoung’s door.

“Are you okay?” Jaebum meant everything.

“Fuck do you care?”

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?” Jinyoung had turned his back on him, but now he was turned around, his eyes burning.

“I know it’s not good enough-”

“Then why? Did you think it was funny?”

“No, we just… I don’t know.” Jaebum roughly ran his hand through his hair and pulled. “It started as a stupid game Jackson and I would play in our free time or over our phones-”

“You really weren’t talking about girls.” It came out like a statement.

Jaebum answered anyway, “No, we were talking about who would be crying in a corner if Mark got killed or who could get away with murdering Bambam. We weren’t mad at you guys or anything… things just… got out of hand.”

“You think?”

“I don’t know what we were thinking… just… you ever wonder how much the other guys care about you? I mean really care? It’s just… part of me wanted to see… I know it’s selfish but…”

“You don’t think I care about you? You don’t know that?”

“I know you do, that’s not-”

“Then why did you make me think you were dead!”

“It’s not just you, everyone-”

“Forget everyone, what about me? How could you.. I can’t do this..”Jinyoung slid onto his knees. Jaebum finally dared to enter his room. He crouched in front of his friend. He reached for Jinyoung’s arm, but the other pulled away. “Don’t.” He reached again. This time Jinyoung let him. As he pulled his arm toward him, Jinyoung went with the momentum. He wrapped his other arm around Jaebum’s waist and rested his head against Jaebum’s chest. Jaebum let go of his other arm so they could fully embrace. He started rubbing small circles into Jinyoung’s back.

“How’s your hand?”

“It fucking hurts.”

“Let me see?”

“No.” Jinyoung tightened his grip around him. 

“Later then.” there was a moment of silence, a search for words.

“I can’t do-” Jinyoung softly began, then stopped.

Jaebum prodded, “Can’t do what?”

“Say what I want to say.”

“Say it.”

“I… you… how do you not know? You’re always asking, saying things like you’re trying to get me to admit it, but then you continue asking… how could you do this, you know I… I can’t live without you. You can’t die-”

“I didn’t.” Jinyoung snapped his head up.

“I thought you did, don’t you get that? Don’t you get it? I thought… you know. Tell me you know.”

“Know what?”

“I love you.” despite seeing his hurt expression, Jaebum couldn’t help the small smile that tugged on his face. 

“I know. I love you too.” Jinyoung’s frown lines deepened. Wrong answer? How did he mess that up? It was true.

“No. I- fuck it.”Jinyoung leaned forward and pressed his lips against Jaebum’s. The kiss was forceful, short and warm, to say the least. OHHHHHHHHHH.

Oh.

But, he never…. he doesn’t… he’s always clinging to Jackson or Mark. They barely touch. If he thought so fondly of him, why couldn’t he even trust him with the knowledge that he was gay, he gave him all those chances to con-… oh.. it was him… he couldn’t, didn’t tell Jaebum he had those feelings for guys because HE was the guy. Shit, it makes so much sense that it should have been obvious.

“Shit.”

“Sorry.” Jinyoung started pulling away. Jaebum held on.

“Why?”

“Just forget it happened.”

“I don’t want to.”

“What… why?” Jaebum wasn’t the type to lie to himself (though burying certain possibilities from his consciousness is apparently a thing his mind just does) and he wasn’t going to start.

“Cause I didn’t hate it. I mean-” he had no clue where he was going with that statement, but Jinyoung took it to mean to lean forward and kiss him longer and harder, which his hands traveling up Jaebum’s back to his neck. Too much! He gently pushed Jinyoung back so that only his hands on his chest connected them. “Wait, calm down, I- just give me a minute here, okay? You may have been feeling this way for a while but, it’s just now, for me--”

“Really, you’ve never felt this way about me before? You never before thought of me like that, like this?”

“You? No...” Had he? The last time he put any thought into even touching Jinyoung, or the way they interact, was months ago. But that was because Jinyoung had been upset with him. He had claimed that, on camera, and sometimes off, Jaebum would have a tendency to push Jinyoung away whenever the younger tried to touch him. He wouldn’t do this to the other members (like Mark). Being singled out like that, well, it hurt. Though Jaebum hadn’t been aware of this supposed habit, he apologized for making Jinyoung feel that way and vowed to make a conscious effort to not push him away anymore. And since then, he has made the effort to let Jinyoung touch him whenever, however he wanted, on or off camera. To be perfectly honest, it was weird at first, he did notice he did have the instinct to push him away, (in his defense, it always felt weird, different, with Jinyoung, and he had wrongly translated that as a feeling he should try to avoid sometimes) but after some time of denying that urge, it was hard to imagine why he would push Jinyoung away. The instinct naturally faded (he guesses, he really hasn’t thought about it in a while). 

Nowadays, he thought their relationship was pretty good, closer than they’ve ever been, really, and that whole discussion had taken place quite a few months back, towards the end of their Just Right promotions…

“Shit.”

Jinyoung looked away, “Sorry, I’m-”

“It’s you.” and the eyes locked back.

“What’s me?”

“You’re the reason I’m happy.”

“And you don’t want me… to be…”

“No, I just hadn’t realized it till now.”

“That’s a lot of revelations in a short time frame.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Wait, you mean the reason you’ve been happy is… you mean all this time, for months, you’ve been feeling the same way, but you just didn’t know it?”

“Now I just sound dumb.”

“You are dumb, we could have been going at it for months now.” That statement just crashed into some unfamiliar territory. Divert. 

“What? Calm down… you… you’re starting to sound like Yugyeom.”

“Don’t bring the kids into this, I’ve waited six years for this. Six years!” With that Jinyoung moved forward again and this time Jaebum didn’t stop him. Their lips met again and this time Jinyoung’s hands made their way into Jaebum’s hair. Jaebum felt the younger’s tongue on his lips and he immediately opened his mouth. The kiss deepened. Jaebum felt it in his toes. Jinyoung was the first to pull away, eventually, resting his head on Jaebum’s shoulder. 

“So, you wanted me even back then, when I was lazy?”

“Two years, I’ve waited two years for this.”

“Bullshit.”

“Now, who sounds like Yugyeom?” Jinyoung picked his head back up.

“When did you start wanting me?” 

“I’m not answering that.”

Jaebum leaned forward. “Come on.”

“What about you? “Just now” too?”

“No. I don’t know.”

“Well I don’t know either. It just happened. I was just in it.”

“In what?”

“In love with you.” This whole exchange, kisses and all, was bizarrely easy. “Though, for the record, I’m still also pissed at you for what you and Jackson pulled tonight.” It was as if nothing had actually changed between them.

“It’s wouldn’t be right if you weren’t.” Maybe nothing had changed. What Jaebum knew was that he didn’t want to dwell on tonight’s earlier events, though he also knew he would have to go back out into the living room and confront and profusely apologize to the others again. For now, he just wanted to taste his best friend’s mouth again, as selfish as that sounds. Though the term “best friend” doesn’t really fit Jinyoung… When he initiated the kiss this time, Jinyoung didn’t become nearly as aggressive.

Unfortunately, any other discoveries would have to be found out later because Jackson interrupted with an “Look Jinyoung-ie, I just want to quickly say how - and I’ll be leaving now. Bambam you owe me 100 dollars!” And he left again. Jaebum took it as a sign that he really should go back and talk with the others now. So he did. With a red-eared Jinyoung by his side.

Jinyoung had no problem leaving his side when it was time for Jackson and him to clean up the bathroom. And it actually took months for the others to really get over the experiment (and not that Jaebum’s bitter about it, but it took them mere seconds to be fine with the idea that he and Jinyoung were, well, you know, like that now). Of course, no one could tell that the experiment (or the other thing) ever happened while they were working. They were professionals after all. Naturally, no one would be able to tell that he and Jackson had been doing all the dorm cleaning, or that the last five new pairs of shoes Bambam had been sporting had been purchased by Jackson. Or that Jaebum had turned into the Got7 private masseuse. Or that when they ordered in, two members didn’t have a say in what they ate. Or that Jaebum had to sleep in the living room with Youngjae at least three nights a week (as long as Choco stayed with Mark on those nights). He had no idea that Youngjae had been upset about no longer sharing a stuffy room with him, and it took him fake dying to find out.

Jaebum was able to appease Jinyoung sooner than the others with a pair of fuzzy handcuffs that had arrived with Jinyoung’s name on the package (as long as it was agreed that Jinyoung was not going to be the one to wear them) and a blowjob. Though Jaebum is sure that last one would have happened anyway. He’s pretty sure that would have happened anyway. 

“Yeah.” Fairly certain.

“Yeah what?” Jinyoung mumbled from his spot against Jaebum’s chest as they half sat/half laid on the couch.

“Nothing, just thinking.”

“About what?”

“You.”

“What about me?” Jaebum ran his hand through Jinyoung’s bangs as he thought of lying. Then he thought again.

“About when I… did…” Of course, no one said the truth was easy. Jinyoung knew exactly what he was referring to though. It was written all over his face as he lifted his head up.

The words, “What delicious thing did you do to me?” were also a dead give away. Jaebum needed out of this conversation. Oh.

“You should sleep with me tonight.” He loved watching Jinyoung react to the implication.

“Hyung… are we ready for that?”

“I mean literally sleep.” And there goes the ears.

“Oh… I don’t know… I don’t think-”

“Still scared of your bad habit?”

“I wonder what’s on TV. I bet Jackson’s on some channel…” Jinyoung began reaching around Jaebum, searching for the remote without actually getting off of him. 

“Tell me, Jinyoung.”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“You won’t even tell your boyfriend?”

“Don’t play that card.” As cheesy as it sounds, Jaebum had finally found a term that fit Jinyoung… it fit him too: his boyfriend.

“Fine, I’ll play another.” Jaebum lunged up and over, with an arm around Jinyoung, successfully flipping their positions. 

“Hey.” Jinyoung protested. Jaebum shifted as he hovered over Jinyoung’s body, with a hand on each side of his head. “Why do you think this will get me to- hey- YAH - st- ha heh hee… stop, Hyung!” Jaebum continued to tickle the sides of Jinyoung’s body.

“Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me-” 

“Stop. Hee heh heh. Im Jaebum! Okay… fine just stop with the.” Jaebum stopped before he could finish, but that didn’t deter him. “Tickling. You know, I think I liked you better when you were violent.” Jaebum simply lifted an eyebrow and waited for what he wanted to hear. “Fine.” Jinyoung gave a large huff. Jaebum couldn’t tell if he was stalling or if he was carefully choosing his words. He finally began with, “When I sleep, especially in a room with men… attractive men…. especially someone I find attractive, I… I’ll wake up...as if I’m still a teenager.”

“Meaning?”

“Bastard, you know what I mean. Okay, now you know.”

“Okay… well, now you have to sleep with me.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not joking. We’ll use your room if you think that will help you sleep better.”

“What? No.”

“And maybe in the morning… I’ll do something delicious to you.”

“Stop, this isn’t sexy, it’s embarrassing.”

“Why? It’s not like I haven’t seen you like that before.”

Jinyoung let out another huff, “I know. But that has intention and control. This is just…”

“You don’t have to feel embarrassed, Jinyoung, honest.”

“Easy for you to say.”

A voice from across the room piped in, “Maybe to make it even, you should tell him about one of your most embarrassing moments, Jaebum.” Mark suggested as he walked by and towards the kitchen.

“I think I know all those.” Jinyoung stated.

“You know about the black girl from LA?” Mark said.

“What black girl from LA?”

Jaebum cut in, “Ignore him. He must be thinking of someone else.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it was you who told the girl that you liked looking into her tits.”

“I meant to say “eyes”!” Damn Yugyeom and his vulgar English. He looked back down at Jinyoung, only to see he had covered his mouth already. He could feel his body vibrating beneath him. “Oh, like you never messed up with a girl.” Jinyoung kept silently laughing.

“Hey, heads up, Bambam said you could probably make better use of this than he could.” Mark then proceeded to toss something to Jaebum. He then left the living room and headed back for the main bedroom people sleep in nowadays, Bambam’s room. They really needed a new dorm. Jaebum looked at what Mark had tossed him.

Jinyoung asked, “What is it?” So Jaebum held it in front of his face. “Jeez… we’ve corrupted Bambam.”

“Can’t be helped.” Jaebum placed the condom in his back pocket before either of them could think about the implications it presented any further. Jinyoung was right before; they weren’t ready for that. He wasn’t ready for that. Yet. “Now, where were we?”

“I believe you were trying to invite yourself into my bed.”

“Ah, yes.” Jaebum leaned forward again. “So, how about it?” Jinyoung grinned wider the closer Jaebum got to him, but before their lips could touch, Jinyoung turned his head away. His nose scrunched up. For a guy who had supposedly waited two to six years for this, he sure enjoyed playing hard to get. With his face still turned, Jaebum looked over to see what had distracted his boyfriend. It was Choco. She was happily staring up at them from the middle of the living room and pooping.

As they stared, Jinyoung couldn't help asking, “What would you do if I killed the dog?”

“I would help you bury the body.”


End file.
